Tiger Tail: Shifter Romance

by Sky Winters

  She realized that she was being quiet and thoughtful instead of answering his question. She shrugged. “I was hoping to find happiness. I guess that’s cheesy. My ex-husband cheated on me. Not only that, but he cheated on me after he had convinced me that he was the solid, dependable type that I had been searching for. I wanted to get away from him and everything I had known, or thought I had known.”

  Jolene remembered finding the tall, dark, and handsome Luke as the answer to her wildest bad boy fantasies. To his credit, he hadn’t cheated on her or abandoned her. In fact, he continually made the effort to see her and include her in things… Although she had to concede that part of that time together had actually been with Zebe.

  “Ugh, why does everything have to be so complicated?” she bemoaned. At least she was not crying anymore, but she still felt so stuck and disappointed in how things had gone.

  He looked at her thoughtfully. She looked back at him, appreciating that he was not leaping to suggest things. She hated when people rushed to share their opinions about her life. He turned slightly and she saw the crescent shape below his earlobe on his neck. So it was Zebe. She knew it!

  “How much of Burlington have you seen so far?” he asked her then. “I’m guessing my brother mostly showed you the bar scene.”

  Jolene chuckled a little and nodded her head. “Yup. He claimed he was taking me on a tour of town, but he took me to Vermonster. Then we got caught in a rain shower, so he just brought me home.” Now that she thought about it, it was rather lame of her to not have gone out exploring on her own. Would she have become a shy homebody if it wasn’t for Luke and his electrical expertise?

  Zebe was smiling at her now. “I could take you on an actual tour of Burlington if you want,” he said. “No motorcycle required either, because I don’t feel comfortable with you riding one while pregnant.”

  She smiled back at him. “I think Anjelica would kill you if you put me on your motorcycle.” The thought of touring around the town with the calmer, gentler Weir brother was a nice one. “Are you sure your brother won’t mind?”

  “He probably will mind, but we are taking care of you together so he won’t stop us,” Zebe replied. “Besides, it’s not good to keep you cooped up inside all the time. You would hate us in the end.”

  Oh, I don’t think I could ever hate you, she thought.

  “Great,” she said, feeling better already now that she knew she was going to get to go on some adventures with Zebe. “I look forward to it. Now, as for where I’m supposed to sleep here…?”

  Zebe furrowed his dark eyebrows at her. “Don’t be silly,” he said. “You’re sleeping right here on this bed. I’ll sleep on the couch. I don’t mind at all.”

  Jolene felt a little surprised and guilty for taking up his bedroom, but she wanted Zebe to be able to feel like he had done right by her. She decided to let him be a gentleman instead of fighting it. After all, she was far too tired and, well, pregnant to move at that point. So instead of even arguing a little, she smiled and closed her eyes. “You are too good to me. Thank you.”

  Smiling adoringly at her, he leaned forward and kissed her lips. It was a feather sort of kiss because he did not want to disturb her. He stayed until he was sure that she was asleep, and then he went into the hall to collect some blankets and make himself a bed on the couch.

  Breakfast in the Weirs’ house was an interesting contrast from the breakfasts she had offered them at her cottage. Far from Pop Tarts, Jolene stepped into the kitchen to the delightful smell of waffles and sausage. She smiled when she caught sight of Zebe standing over the stove, spatula in hand, flipping the sausages.

  Zebe was dressed in some red and black plaid pajama bottoms with a black band t-shirt. He looked happy and well-rested. She hoped that she looked the same; she had slept in her clothing that she picked out for her date at Vermonster. She was going to need to at least stop by her cottage to get some clothes.

  Luke was nowhere in sight, which was baffling. Jolene did not imagine for one minute that the twins were joined at the hip or anything, but it was rare to find them not together in the house… Then again, she had only been there for about a day.

  “Mmm, smells good,” she said softly, coming up behind Zebe and wrapping her arms around him. There was no harm in giving him a little cuddle, especially not after how sweetly he had treated her when she was under the weather.

  Zebe smirked a little. “The sausage or me?”

  Jolene blushed and let go of him, laughing a bit nervously under her breath. Her thoughts were muddled. She knew she didn’t have to decide which brother—if either—she wanted to be in a relationship with, but she still wanted to. She thought that it would bring closure if she could just commit to one of them… if they would commit to her.

  “Where’s Luke?” she asked instead of answering Zebe’s flirtatious question.

  He didn’t seem fazed; he was likely used to inquiries about his brother. “He’s still asleep,” he replied. “He likes to sleep in on his days off, especially when we’re not planning anything.”

  Jolene felt kind of bad about that. “Are you not planning anything because I’m here?”

  “Don’t be silly,” he said, pretending that he might whack her with the black plastic spatula, and then smiling. “We can still go out together, you and I, and explore the city later. Luke doesn’t have to know… Or, well, I guess he does because it’s going to leave him alone.”

  Even though she felt guilty about leaving Luke alone in the house while she went gallivanting around with Zebe, Jolene was thrilled by the idea of getting some alone time out on the town with the crescent moon brother. She knew him intimately, but she wanted to get to know him better.

  She sat down at the small kitchen table, immediately feeling better to be off of her sore ankles. She watched him from behind as he continued to cook their breakfast. It was undeniable that she loved a man who could cook. “You’ve made me a casserole and now you’re making me breakfast,” Jolene said appreciatively. “I wish I knew how and why you were so nice to me.”

  “Oh, it shouldn’t be that hard to figure out,” he said with a smile back at her. Jolene blushed. He was a kind person. That much was obvious. She was excited to get him alone outside of his brother’s shadow and get to know him better.

  Once the sausage and waffles were done cooking, Zebe carefully stacked them onto a plate and placed it in front of Jolene. It was a stack of four waffles and five sausage links. She raised her eyebrows and laughed. “I’m not sure I’ve got the appetite for this much,” she said amusedly.

  Zebe placed the leftovers onto a plate for himself and sat beside her. “Your appetite might surprise you. After all, you are eating for three now.”

  “Jesus, don’t remind me,” she said with a laugh. She carefully put the right amount of syrup onto her waffles and cut some from the stack. It still seemed like too much to her, but she definitely wasn’t going to turn down food. Especially delicious breakfast food. She took a bite and let out a soft moan over how good it was.

  He watched her eat and she was reminded of male animals in the wild watching out for their pregnant ladies. She was not naïve enough to think that animals really had a gentlemanly sense, but it was still cute to think about. Zebe was gentlemanly, and he was half-animal so it was good enough for her.

  Once he was satisfied that she was satisfied, he started eating. It was good to have a calm moment together, where Jolene could collect her thoughts. She had no doubt that Zebe had a lot of thoughts as well. She was glad that at least she was far from alone in this situation. She had a whole posse of three where most ladies were lucky to have one.

  As soon as she was done eating—it turned out that he had given her almost the perfect amount of food, leaving only one waffle for him to eat off of her plate—Jolene left the table to go freshen up and put some clothes on. She put on her tight, dark jeans from before but decided that the sweater would have to be burned if she wore it again, and she did not want t
hat. But that left Jolene with no other option but to wear one of Zebe’s shirts. She had a feeling that he wouldn’t mind…

  Jolene opened Zebe’s dresser and looked around for a drawer full of shirts. She noticed that his drawers were more neatly organized than she ever would have expected any man to do. In a moment of panic, she wondered if he had a girlfriend or something. In all of their flirtation, she had never asked. Surely he would have said something, though… right?

  She shook her head a little, telling herself that it was a non-issue unless he mentioned it. It was bad to assume, just like it would be bad of him to not mention something like that. Moving downwards, she found a drawer full of his shirts. Surprisingly, they were not all black. It seemed like Luke lived primarily in black, but Zebe’s dresser displayed a bit more variation.

  Not wanting to be too choosy in her borrowing, Jolene pulled out a green shirt with some video game logo on it in white lettering. She threw it on; it was big, but it did well in covering up her ridiculously pregnant belly. There was something snuggly about wearing a man’s oversized shirt.

  She pulled her hair up into a messy ponytail, not even bothering to use a mirror. This was going to be a fun day and she didn’t want to see it as a date. She didn’t think that Zebe saw it as a date. That was, until he met her outside in the hallway. He was wearing some black jeans and a button-up shirt with thin, black pinstripes on it. Clearly something that belonged to Luke. Twins wearing their twin’s clothing was confusing to say the least.

  “You look nice,” he said, smiling so sweetly at her that she almost believed him.

  Jolene let a little laugh escape her, shaking her head. “We look like we’re going out to two different things. I should change.”

  He caught her by the wrist. “Nooo,” he said. “You look great. This is just supposed to be relaxed fun. Don’t change.”

  “Okay,” she agreed with a sigh that was more theatrical than serious. “But you better not take me to a fancy restaurant or something. If you do, I will never forgive you.”

  Zebe chuckled and took her hand. “Okay,” he said. “I promise.”

  He led her slowly and carefully out to the car in the driveway. Jolene was surprised that two biker boys even had a car, but more than that she was relieved. She didn’t think riding on the back of a motorcycle was the best idea, but walking would not be a good plan either, unless they were only walking up the block.

  She felt tired simply standing for about five minutes.

  He made sure that she was safely buckled into the car before he even thought about starting the engine. She wondered if the only places he was planning to take her were an ice cream parlor, a toy store full of nothing but teddy bears, and a pillow factory. She may have been weak and sore, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t game for something exciting.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  A Rainbow In The Dark

  To Jolene’s happy surprise, the first place Zebe brought her was back to her cottage. “I figured that you would want to collect some of your things so you don’t have to live out of our wardrobes anymore,” he said.

  She smiled sheepishly at him. “I hope I haven’t been a burden.”

  He shook his head at her. “Oh no, it’s nothing like that! I just thought you’d be happier with some of your things.”

  He was correct about that. As soon as the car was safely parked in the driveway, she carefully got out of the car and he went with her to the cottage. “Thankfully I still have quite a few things in suitcases,” Jolene said. It was something that had been driving her crazy before and making her feel like her time there was only temporary, but now she was hopefully going to be settling in to Burlington and planting roots there. With a gang of werewolves, as luck and bizarreness would have it.

  Jolene unlocked her front door and invited him inside. “Make yourself at home.” She blushed a little, remembering the last time Zebe had been in her house. He followed her inside and sat on the couch in the living room, not seeming so comfortable in the space as she might have expected. He didn’t seem like he wanted to run away or anything, but he wasn’t making himself at home so much as patiently waiting for her to find what she needed.

  She went into her bedroom and found her still mostly packed suitcase. She threw in any clothes that she could find strewn about her floor and then went to the washing machine and tossed in the dirty clothes as well. There would be plenty of time to do laundry at the Weirs’ house, she imagined. Wasn’t part of a mom’s duty doing the laundry? She assumed that werewolves needed their clothes cleaned as well… Possibly even moreso, due to bloodstains.

  The thought of Zebe and Luke going out and getting into fights made her frown. She knew that it was an inevitable part of their lives, but it still did not make her happy. If she could at least keep them from fighting each other she would consider it a victory.

  Once her suitcase was satisfactorily stuffed to bursting, she called for Zebe to come and help her close it and carry it out of the house. “I don’t want to break a finger trying to get the zipper to move,” she said with a light laugh. She smoothed her hair back off of her face as she watched the tall, sexy man grunt and swear under his breath while wrestling the suitcase shut. So far, the only time she had seen him angry was now, fighting her suitcase. In their fight, the one who had been the aggressor was Luke. Even now that she was staying in their house, Luke was the growly, more acerbic one.

  It was more amusing than threatening to witness Zebe beating up her bag.

  “God dammit,” he said softly, as if he was really trying hard to not curse in front of the lady. “Ahh! Got it!” He held up the bag in triumph, so Jolene could see his handiwork.

  Jolene beamed and clapped a little, hoping that he wouldn’t think she was patronizing him. She genuinely was impressed and glad he had helped her. “Thank you!” she shouted back for good measure.

  “I’ll take this out to the car,” Zebe told her, panting a bit from either his labor or his excitement. Possibly a little of both. “You should keep looking around in case you find something else that you realize you can’t live without.”

  She chuckled slightly, nodding. “Okay. I’m on it.”

  Jolene went into the kitchen and found herself one of those canvas bags that grocery stores sell in order to cut down on plastic waste. She put as much food as possible into the bag, tossing out anything that was no longer fresh or appealing to her more refined tastes. When she saw the casserole in the fridge, she let out a little laugh and a sob at the same time. She could not leave Zebe’s sweet gift to her in the cottage. Carefully, she rearranged the food in her bag so she could put it snugly inside, kept safe by being packed in amongst softer things.

  One of the things that kept the casserole safe, as it turned out, was the box of Pop-Tarts that she had shared with Luke. The contents of her food bag were turning into a metaphor now and she knew it was time to leave before she started attributing feelings to the outlets on the wall.

  Carrying the bag of food out to the car, Jolene could not help but feel a bit silly that she was bringing along a bunch of food that she could have bought at the store. She just did not like to see food go to waste. The cottage was too nice for her to just give up, but she had a feeling that she wasn’t going to be back for some time. The last thing she wanted was to return to it and discover that she had a roach and mouse infestation. She doubted an exterminator would be half as sexy as her electrician.

  That made her realize something.

  “I know what Luke does, but I haven’t asked you yet and I’m sorry… What do you do for a living?” Jolene smiled at Zebe as she carefully situated the grocery bag in the trunk beside her suitcase.

  Zebe closed the trunk’s door as soon as she had placed it in and gotten out of the way. He gave her a handsome, pleasant sort of smile. “I’m the manager of a department store on Dorset Street.”

  Jolene was impressed, even though she obviously didn’t know what Dorset Street was like. He made it sound importan
t. “That sounds fancy,” she said with a grin. “I’m in marketing, so I’m familiar with sales tactics.” She felt like a dork for bringing that up, but it was cool to find someone with a similar career. “I’m all over-the-phone, freelance sort of stuff now though. Which will make things easy now that…” She gestured to her baby bump.

  Chuckling, Zebe helped her get into the car and nicely buckled into her seat. He was protective of her without being rude or condescending. He mostly helped her with things that he had witnessed her struggling to do for herself. And carrying big heavy suitcases was right out no matter what kind of pregnancy it was.

  He came around the car and got inside, putting his seatbelt on himself as well before clutching the steering wheel and then turning to her with a big grin on his face. “So,” he said. “Where next?”

  Jolene laughed. “I thought you had a plan!”

  “My plan was to take you on an adventure,” he said. “It’s not fun if I plan it all. It becomes an itinerary rather than an adventure, don’t you agree?”

  Well this was refreshing. After all, she had moved to Burlington on a whim to get away from everything tried and true. She wanted to explore and she really had not done that yet. Getting away from her ex would be that much better if she was having all kinds of wonderful experiences now. It would be a real ‘fuck you’ to her past.

  “What are some of your favorite places in Vermont?” she asked him then, realizing that the best place to start was with what he recommended. “And please, no bars.”

  Zebe laughed and snapped his fingers. “Darn, I was really hoping to bring you to a bar. Aww…” His pretend disappointment was amusing enough to send her on a laughing fit. “There is this one place. It’s not really a place in town, but it is very Vermonty.”